Autumn 2022

Near Campomarino - 17 October 2022

The restaurant Tintin had found didn’t open until 7.30pm, so the website and Google maps said - they lied - it was shut. Wandered around, but couldn’t find anywhere to eat - oh well - plan B again - cheese and crackers - as deemed too late to cook by then!

Had a good undisturbed nights sleep. Tintin has just been reading about a moho in France - 2am they heard people, and banging on their van - they sounded their alarm (like we have) - the people moved off, only to come back with a metal barrier and used it to cause considerable damage. Police weren’t that interested. They were even in an Aire with other vans - think they were targeted as they were English. It’s so sad to hear of events like this - you just never know…

We want to go further South into the heel of the boot of Italy, but not in too much of a hurry. Tintin wanted to drive again - was only about 90 minutes in the end.

We passed fields of cactus - prickly pear, and more and more fields of olive trees.

We drove past Taranto - one of my guide books said the city is surrounded by steel mills, cement factories and refineries. Caution is advised when visiting this city because of the high unemployment and crime rate. Doesn’t encourage one to visit!

In general, we’ve found that the roads in the South are better than we expected, and no worse than middle Italy. Obviously there are some we can’t wait to get off!

Apart from the general couldn’t care less attitude about pets, the other thing which is really sad to see is the rubbish everywhere. We think people must drive in their cars and just chuck it out the windows, as it’s strewn all along the side of the roads, and definitely at any laybys. Lots of broken glass too.

So by 11.30am we were parked up in a little carpark, right next to the beach. Not really sure where we are - it’s called Spiaggia Della Madonnina on the map - between Taranto and Gallipoli! I’ve always thought of this area as Puglia, but it’s called Apulia too!

We saw a young couple in a UK registered van, so had a quick chat. They’d come from Montenegro, having problems with keeping warm in their old van with no heating, so are getting a ferry from Civitavecchia (near Rome) to Barcelona. Also, Sophie doesn’t drive, and her boyfriend had thought he’d broken his arm, but were in Albania and didn’t want to pay for treatment. Strapped it up himself, and waited until visiting a hospital in Lecce yesterday - it’s not broken. I think they’re incredibly brave, they’ve been away so long they’ve had to seek out places not in the Schengen Agreement, their van looks old, and they look so young!

Spent the whole afternoon on the beach, reading books again. Didn’t even go for a swim, even though it felt warm - just so many rocks for us to hit our toes on - as you can see from Tintin’s drone footage - but nice to walk along the shoreline with feet in the water!

The sun was setting just after 6pm - it’s only 6.45pm and dark outside!